“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” Ephesians 5:1,2
When a person comes to Christ, trusting Him to save them, and they are born of the Spirit, they are not only a new creation in Christ, old things being passed away and all things become new, they are introduced, and made a part of a family, a living, new family. It is a family that is particular in that it is primarily spiritual, as that which binds every member of that family to every other member has come to know Christ as Savior and Lord, but also, has received His Spirit by which each one has Life. As the rules, principals, and power of the Kingdom of God apply to the disciple of Christ, the servant of God, so in this family of believers in Christ, the great truths apply. For example, the basic principle of faith in Christ is just as much a necessity to live by in the context of this family, as in the world in the service of the Lord. Just as the leading of the Spirit, His strengthening, and work of revelation and instruction in the ways of God are essential to know on a daily basis in walking with God, so in the relationship of member with member in this family of God the Father, the same resources are to be received and lived by. God the Father placed every believer in the body of Christ, as a member of His body, so that, living and walking by the Spirit, the life of Christ could be known and experienced in great measure for God’s glory and the blessing of His church, His body. It is as each member “becomes what they are” in perspective, truth, and calling, with regard to worshipping God in Spirit and truth, that Christ reveals His presence in the midst. How does this work, and what can be expected if every member in the body of Christ walks with Him, abides in Him?
We need to begin with what God can and wills to be to every child belonging to Him. In the uniqueness of their calling, gifts, and mission, the greatest objective and pursuit of all is to be Christ, that knowledge of Him which is born out of personal, individual worship, and a life of abiding in Christ. It is as one is alone before, and with the Father, seeking Him, and not to be seen of men, that there is a great promise: “…pray to Thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:6) In John’s gospel, we find Jesus declaring: “He that hath My commandments, and keepth them, he it is that loveth me: an he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” (Jn. 14:21) He goes on to say that, “…If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him and make our abode with him.” (Jn. 14:23) The Lord Jesus in these several verses unveils to us something of the relationship between the Father and His child, one where not only there is the promise of the Father’s and Son’s presence with the child of God, but the revelation, the manifestation, the communion with God and the believer. It is first a personal, and individual matter, the seeking soul, the individual child of God before the Father. But then, the reward of such a seeking heart is that God reveals Himself, the Father and the Son by the Spirit, to the heart and soul of the child. Out of that communion is born the experience of Christ’s life and love. Concerning the entire body of Christ, Jesus said: “…I will build My church (body); and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Dear Father, Give us Thy understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.